I love working on pop-up books. I urgently need to write my own book soon. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to share a glimpse of the process involved in creating a pop up book. To that end, here’s a white prototype that I recently made for a pop-up book publisher. At this stage, there are various markings on the piece so that the physical sample will correspond to the digital art template. The graphic artist / illustrator will place graphics to this template and then any minor adjustments would be made. Whenever you work on a pop-up project of this scope, there’s always a bit of a dance between the engineering and the art but surprising and beautiful things can result from that interplay.
There is a lot going on here: approximately 14 different specific trains, a cable car suspended on string, a pull tab with a moving dimensional train, an automatically turning train, and lots of scenery including bridges and a central train station. A train in the back climbs the mountain automatically as well. I think there is a lot here for kids to interact with and there are plenty of opportunities to educate about the topic of trains. These photos show two slightly different versions and more alterations will likely take place as it moves along into production.
Hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to do some more work on this book again soon. In the meantime, I’ll get started writing my own pop-up book. Maybe I should make a pop-up book about making a pop-up book!
I feel like I’m sitting in the front rows of a Cirque du Soleil show, trying to catch everything all at once, and missing so much. Had to watch a couple times. That radial train track moves so smooth!
Thanks Cecelia! There are so many “bells and whistles” on this one but it seems to work well together as a whole composition.